VIFF opening gala proceeds despite picket line

Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun09.30.2011

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

Guests attending the post-opening gala of the Vancouver International Film Festival face a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers outside the Gala venue in the company's Station building Thursday September 29, 2011 in Vancouver. Film sector unions issued a statement urging their members not to cross the line in the labour dispute that has lasted months and involved replacement workers.Ian Lindsay
/ PNG

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VANCOUVER - Five B.C. film industry unions urged their members, including directors and actors, not to attend the Vancouver Film Festival's opening gala after-party Thursday night because the venue's owner, Rocky Mountaineer, locked out its 108 attendants three months ago

Dozens of protesters lined the entrance to the station, holding signs that included, "We're fighting for our jobs. Wouldn't you?" and "Stop the war on workers."

Cars that turned around at the dead-end street were greeted with cheers, and shouts of, "Thank you."

As of 10:30 p.m., there were roughly 300 guests inside. About 1,500 were invited.

Michelle Boyer, a locked out on-board attendant with Teamsters Local 31, called it "inspiring" to know so many people opted not to cross the picket line.

"It just makes us feel that everything we've done this summer was worth it," she said. "[The solidarity] speaks volumes."

The unions, in a media statement released by the B.C. Federation of Labour, asked the public not to cross picket lines erected Thursday night outside the Rocky Mountaineer Station by the locked-out members of Teamsters Local 31.

"The livelihoods of these workers and respect for a picket line are more important than a party," said Ken Anderson, president of IATSE Local 891. "It's unfortunate that organizers have scheduled this event where so many people from the industry simply won't attend."

The film unions issuing the call are the Union of B.C. Performers, IATSE Locals 669 and 891, Directors Guild of Canada and Teamsters Local 155. A spokesman for the B.C. Federation of Labour said that about one third to half of the people who would normally attend this event are members of these industry unions.

Meanwhile, festival director Alan Franey said today that his staff is talking with sponsors about whether to go ahead with an opening night after-party, which could find itself behind potential union picket lines.

"It hasn't sorted itself out. We are still waiting for responses from important stakeholders here," said Franey. "I regret that so many people are getting caught in the inconvenience and cross-fire here. But we will see how it plays out. We don't want to be making enemies of anyone here."

Franey said that the festival has held events at the Rocky Mountaineer station before and that his staff had visited the station during the summer and never saw pickets.

"It's just astonishing for us to be experiencing this all at the eleventh hour," said Franey. "What I regret is that we are caught in the cross-fire here and it looks like we are insensitive to the issues, which I really don't think is fair."

Franey said that Rocky Mountaineer should have informed the festival of the potential for pickets, adding that the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Teamsters should have also raised the issue much earlier. "Whey did we not hear from (B.C. Fed president) Jim Sinclair until after working hours yesterday (Wednesday) that they were concerned about it?"

Asked why festival staff didn't find an alternate location given that the lockout began in June, Franey said: "Certainly if we had known it was an issue, we could have addressed it."

B.C. Fed president Sinclair, in response, said: "Let's get real. We didn't know what they were doing. He (Franey) could have phoned us up and said: 'Do we have a problem?' I'm sure he's not saying that he didn't know there was labour dispute at Rocky Mountaineer for the last three months."

Sinclair said he talked to a festival staff member in charge of gala events Thursday and was told that the festival was aware of the lockout.

-With files from Andrea Woo

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